Caetano Veloso

Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist

Person · Open Library

Born: 1942-08-07
Works: 13

Top works

Caixa preta
Narciso em férias
Coleção Caetano Veloso
Antropofagia
A imagem do som de Caetano Veloso

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Film & TV

Acting · Santo Amaro, Brazil

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (7 August 1942), better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship. He has remained a constant…

Known for

Todo Mundo no Rio com Shakira — Self2026
Luiz Melodia - Within the Heart of Brazil — Self (archive footage)2025
Ritas — Self (archive footage)2025
Caetano e Bethânia Ao Vivo — Self2025
Chico Anysio: Um Homem à Procura de Um Personagem — Self (archive footage)2025
Fernando Collor: The Maharajah Hunter — Self (archive footage)2025

Article

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso ( Brazilian Portuguese: [kajˈtɐnu emɐnuˈɛw viˈɐnɐ ˈtɛliz veˈlozu]; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, musician and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship that took power in 1964. He has remained a constant creative influence and best-selling performing artist and composer ever since. Veloso has won nineteen Brazilian Music Awards, nine Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards. On 14 November 2012, Veloso was honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.

Veloso was one of seven children born into the family of José Telles Veloso (commonly known as Seu Zeca), a government official, and Claudionor Viana Telles Veloso (known as Dona Canô). He was born in the city of Santo Amaro da Purificação, in Bahia, a state in northeastern Brazil, but moved to Salvador, the state capital, as a college student in the mid-1960s. Soon after that, Veloso won a music contest and was signed to his first label. He became one of the originators of Tropicália with several like-minded musicians and artists—including his sister Maria Bethânia—in the same period. However, the Brazilian military dictatorship viewed Veloso's music and political action as threatening, and he was arrested, along with fellow musician Gilberto Gil, in 1969. The two eventually were exiled from Brazil and went to London where they lived for two years. In 1972, Veloso moved back to his home country and once again began recording and performing. He later became popular outside Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s.